Countdown billing double vs what was actually spent

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Kilack

526 posts

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#233480 17-Apr-2018 21:57

Hi All,

I went to countdown today to buy a few things.

Noticed later that we had been billed twice for the exact same amount. I only went there once so this is impossible.

I called the branch of Countdown and they said I had to contact the bank and sort it out. (Sunnynook)

I called the bank (ASB) - they said I had to sort it out with the vendor (countdown).

A little bit pissed off at having to muck around and waste time.

Who has the responsibility here? Surely asb or any bank see a transaction coming in within seconds of the same value can work things out?

It's just one of those annoying things, but also how many people get overcharged and never challenge??

Linux

10300 posts

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#1998156 17-Apr-2018 22:04

Wait 24 hours and it should be picked up on reconciliation between bank and retailer and sorted out automatically has happened to me before

Linux

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mattwnz

19389 posts

Uber Geek

#1998158 17-Apr-2018 22:06

Don't countdown have a policy, that if they make an error in pricing, they will refund you and give you the product free? ALthough I don't know if that will help you in this case if you have been double billed on the entire transaction. I have found them to be really good when they have made errors. If they have made an error, you should contact the manager of countdown and make a complaint so you can find out what happened.

kickintheeye

112 posts

Master Geek

#1998204 17-Apr-2018 22:43

Hope you get this sorted. I better double check the bill next time I visit Countdown.

KiwiSurfer

1110 posts

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#1998215 17-Apr-2018 23:27

If the payment was made by credit card it might be easier to dispute the transaction with ASB who will then be responsible for following up with Countdown. But if EFTPOS well that's a grey area as legally ASB has no obligation to sort it out. But like the above comment, I'd wait a few days and see if it sorts itself out. I've had EFTPOS transactions fail part-way through then go through the second try. Both appeared in my banks system as pending transactions but only one actually posted.

stevenk

26 posts

Geek

#1998224 18-Apr-2018 00:19

If the duplicate payment doesn't get reversed automatically, I'd insist that ASB follow this one up, and the investigation would probably need to be done at head office level, not at a branch.

Whether Countdown sent through two transactions or not, ASB have access to the transaction logs that will show exactly how the payment(s) were processed. Countdown won't have access to any of these. The other thing to bear in mind is that if the money was withdrawn from your account twice, it doesn't necessarily mean that Countdown were paid twice - one of the payments could be stuck in a suspense account somewhere at the ASB. If this happened, then it's ASB's problem to sort out.

If Countdown genuinely sent through two transactions that were both completed successfully, then ASB will be able to identify that this happened, even though Countdown would need to initiate a refund.

Aredwood

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1998226 18-Apr-2018 00:40

Did either of them actually try to look up the transaction? Or did they both just blame the other.